I could not find an existing topic for this fantastic melodic death metal band, so I decided to post my own. Scar Symmetry are easily my favourite melodic death metal band of all time, and that is saying something considering that they have only been active for about two years. Still, in these two years they have managed to put out two fantastic melodeath masterpieces that rank up there with the very best in the genre, and it is rumoured that these guys are going to be very big now that they have managed to nail a contract with Nuclear Blast.

So what is it that makes Scar Symmetry such a great band? First of all it is the excellent musicianship. From the fantastic, speedy and no-nonsense guitar solos to the extremely tastefully used keyboard material, the music is right out there. Everyone in this band knows exactly what he is doing and together, they make some of the best and most memorable songs that I have ever heard. Scar Symmetry certainly aren't familiar with the term 'filler'.

Another particularly brilliant part of Scar Symmetry's music is the vocals, all done by singer Christian Älvestam. His voice is incredibly diverse, capable of doing good clean vocals as well as death grunts and even the occasional scream. What is even more brilliant is that he can alternate between these styles extremely quickly.

Their two albums, Symmetric In Design (2005) and Pitch Black Progress (2006) are two great feats of melodeath music and both have gotten rave reviews and album of the month notations all around the world. Symmetric In Design is easily the heaviest of the two albums, more closely related to death metal than the sophomore album, but Pitch Black Progress has some pretty heavy tracks as well. Overall, the second album is much more melodic and the clean vocals are executed better than ever. Many fans will not care for the amount of clean vocals on this album, but there is enough deathsy goodness for them to enjoy as well.

My favourite tracks from both albums? Chaosweaver, Dominion, Reborn, The Illusionist, Mind Machine, The Kaleidoscopic God. Trust me though when I say that not one song from either of these albums will really disappoint. They're all good in their own right!

The bands I regard as pinnacles of modern Shitmetal/Excrementcore usually have 4 or more of these elements. Scar Symmtery, Wintersun, Epica, Within Temptation, Sonata Artctica, mid-period Soilwork, Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum, most things labelled Technical or Progressive etc etc. Deadone would put all of them and all their CDs on an airliner and send them over Ukrainian skies with big Ukranian Air Force roundels and at really low altitude so if a SAM didn't take care of them, a mountain would.

Some of the elements did appear in older bands but I don't listen to them too or they did in it a Deadone Approved manner. Even some modern stuff done with above elements can still be Deadone Approved e.g. Divine Heresy's Bleed The Fifth.

If you want to know the elements I do like, look at my collection or my lists.

You can find fault and cliche elements in any genre or subgenre of music. I can list some shit I don't like from thrash, black and other subgenres of metal music, but I don't really care enough to do so. I'm not saying some of your complaints aren't valid, but in the end it all comes down to one thing: subjective taste. I don't find Scar Symmetry overly produced (in fact I think it's laughable to say something like that about them when compared to the likes of Soilwork or Sonic Syndicate), nor do I think their keyboards are annoying for example. So each to his own.